So I saw the movie last night with Beau and I am still trying to process my reaction in light of all of your own and Beau's. This is long. So apologies.

Beau did not read the book. He had a very negative reaction to the movie. I see his points actually about what he didn't like in the film, but I liked the film more (but was still a bit disappointed in some elements of the film). Beau equates HG with HP:HBP (which is a movie I really disliked). Beau hadn't read that book either and thought HBP is a better movie than HG.

Which seems like extreme blasphemy to me. Now for the spoilers.

Some things I liked:

I really really liked the actor who played Peeta. I took one look at him and wrote.him.off. By the end of the movie, I was totally in his court. That said the dialogue with Katniss and Peeta in the cave was some of the cheesiest shit EVER. I thought I got dropped into ABC Family all of the sudden. Not cool.

Like Debet, I also saw this movie in a theater with a gaggle of pre-teens/early teens and I could hear girls giggling through out! I nearly lost my mind. They did an "aww" during the scenes we see Gale looking at the tv when Katniss was kissing Peeta. Really? Oh, I guess I no longer remember what it was like to be 14.

I think what I have reconciled is that I really liked seeing a book I enjoyed on screen. Generally speaking, many parts of the film were close enough to my mental image that I did not experience much dissonance. I found, on that level, that I really liked the film. However, as someone who read the book, I am not sure I think this movie stands alone. It is always true that movies lose some subtlety in adaptation, but I feel like too much subtlety was lost.

Beau didn't really come away from the film understanding the story the way most of us do. For example, he really didn't see Katniss as strong. He said: she only killed 2 people! Which I suppose is objectively true, but that is not what I thought reading the book. We saw more of her internal struggle and her growth, and what a survivor she was. He focused on how much help she needed to complete her goals (and in that way, she is not different from Harry Potter!). So I'm wondering if the marketing of the movie for the non-readers was misleading?

He also was pretty appalled by the lack of screen time for Thresh and he thought that Rue should have been more cutthroat. Like try to cut her when Katniss hugged her. He couldn't believe she died saying she wanted the pretty White girl to win. Since we had more exposure to the characters in the book, it did not come out like that to me when reading, but I can see that point of view in the movie. We didn't see that they formed a relationship and that kids survived by forming alliances. We also didn't see Rue's true talents in detail.

Beau also did not get that the arena is in a dome (or similar structure). He thought Panem had the technology to create a forest fire storm WHEREVER. So he did not get the technological disconnect and that it takes a lot of effort and planning to booby trap a defined space. So he was not impressed with the society as depicted because it seemed too close to our own.

Oh and btw, guess who his favorite character was? Effie. He said that Cinna came off as a pedophile!

Seriously. I am not sure that a lot of people who haven't read the book would experience the movie this way, but Beau certainly did.

Oh: one of the things I liked the absolute least about the movie were the hand-to-hand combat scenes. WTF was up with the filming of that? Worst fight direction. Ever.

My group was a little older...someone else was the pre-teen crowd. We all laughed at the Gale cut-aways.

So did we, Debet.

I think what I have reconciled is that I really liked seeing a book I enjoyed on screen. Generally speaking, many parts of the film were close enough to my mental image that I did not experience much dissonance. I found, on that level, that I really liked the film. However, as someone who read the book, I am not sure I think this movie stands alone. It is always true that movies lose some subtlety in adaptation, but I feel like too much subtlety was lost.

I agree with this completely.

Beau didn't really come away from the film understanding the story the way most of us do.

Also, this. I was basically surrounded by young critics who hadn't read the books and the story they saw was very different than the one I did. I think that was why I was a bit bummed, because I hadn't seen reviews or box office yet and I really wanted the movie to do well so we'd get the others.

Now, I am usually very sensitive to these things, but I read Peeta's "watched you walk home every day" thing as watching from the step of the school which we were both leaving at approximately the same time with many other people around kind of thing, rather than a "followed you for blocks", which strikes me as less creepy and aggressive.

I admit that I'm kind of confused about people being confused about the stuff that's below the surface layer of the movie. But, I have that experience a lot.

That's how I interpreted it too, Debet, although it still had that creeper vibe anyway. Heh.

I hadn't seen reviews or box office yet and I really wanted the movie to do well so we'd get the others.

Well, no worries on that front now. Heh.

A friend of mine just asked whether she should see before reading, and I recommended she read first.

I have now seen the movie, and I really liked it. My biggest issue wasn't very big--I don't think Peeta looked right. He acted just fine, though, so it's a shallow issue. But he didn't look like the baker's son to me. And, on a flip side, Gale was a bit too big and conventionally hunky.

However--the movie got me when it was supposed to get me--I felt the sibling protectiveness, the civic unrest, the struggle to live.

The people I saw it with who hadn't read the books seemed to get everything that was important. I don't think there was any loss for them because of unfamiliarity with the book.

We saw the 9:40am screening, and the room was pretty full, and also pretty old.

Everything is Better with Seneca’s Beard from The Hunger Games.

I find it rather amazing that that's the actor's actual facial hair.